• From: Washington, DC
  • Registered: 2006-09-27
  • Posts: 96

Topic: [REQ] MS Virtual PC 2007 Driver Pack

I'd like to request one of the experts to create a 3rd party driver pack for MS Virtual PC 2007 (http://www.microsoft.com/windows/produc … fault.mspx). 

I do extensive testing of installs with MS Virtual PC 2007 and it has become annoying to always have to manually install the drivers.  I have successfully made other 3rd party driver packs for unique hardware I have, but my numerous attempts to make this have failed. sad

Thanks.

  • Registered: 2006-05-29
  • Posts: 193

Re: [REQ] MS Virtual PC 2007 Driver Pack

These drivers get installed when you install VMadditions and they are inside a MSI file which is language dependant.
They is differents ways to get these drivers :
1/ extract files from MSI, but some files seems to be duplicated.
2/ use a vbscript to detect BIOS from VM and launch VMadditions setup [I use this for VMware tools, using RogueSpear Scriptpack].
3/ extract drivers from your PC with tools like DriverGrabber (see Tutorial)

  • From: Washington, DC
  • Registered: 2006-09-27
  • Posts: 96

Re: [REQ] MS Virtual PC 2007 Driver Pack

I've tried options #1 and #3.  Neither worked for me.  sad I have tried both #1 and #3 with other drivers and had success, so I am pretty confident I'm not making any obvious mistakes.  hmm

(NOTE: #3 is not that straightforward in this case since the drivers are "Microsoft" drivers, meaning that by default they are ignored, and when Microsoft is not ignored you get a LOT of drivers to sort through).

I guess I'll look into option #2.  Hopefully the VMware example will provide some assistance.

Is anyone aware of anything special about these drivers that would make options #1 and #3 more complex than usual?

  • Registered: 2006-05-29
  • Posts: 193

Re: [REQ] MS Virtual PC 2007 Driver Pack

vbscript example I use to detect vmware bios and set display size ("reschange.exe ...").

Option Explicit
Dim objWMIService, colBIOS, objBIOS, i, ws
Set objWMIService = GetObject("winmgmts:{impersonationLevel=impersonate}!\\.\root\cimv2")
Set colBIOS = objWMIService.ExecQuery("Select * from Win32_BIOS")
Set ws = WScript.CreateObject("WScript.Shell")

For Each objBIOS In colBIOS
	If Not IsNull(objBIOS.SerialNumber) Then 
		If Left(objBIOS.SerialNumber(i),6) = "VMware" Then
       Wscript.echo "BIOS VMware found"
		   ' http://www.12noon.com/reschange.htm
       ws.Run("reschange.exe -width=1024 -height=768"),0,True
     Else
       Wscript.echo "BIOS VMware not found"
		End If
	End If
Next
  • Helmi
  • Moderator & Translator (German)
  • Offline
  • From: Germany
  • Registered: 2006-05-27
  • Posts: 1,799

Re: [REQ] MS Virtual PC 2007 Driver Pack

The problem is probabaly that it's not just ordinary drivers (you know, INFs, SYSs, INIs etc) but a real installation routine.
Take for example my DVD-RAM "drivers" that cannot be bound in using the BASE, either (ok, I could run them as an exception).

Also, if you only install the drivers, what do you gain by this?
It would lack the "free mouse" (movinjg directly from the host GUI to the guest one) as well as drag&drop of files.
Personally, that is what counts, not whether I have sound or more than 16 colours wink

http://d1syubgj0w3cyv.cloudfront.net/cdn/farfuture/AeXmpESLemRyQ4RE-dgdjRhN_hKaXMe7woWjOK2wsnk/perpetual:forever/userbar/moderator-3.png

Coming up next - useful links:
• If you like this project, please support it with your donation!      • Grab your HW info (HWIDs) here!     
• If you are a newbie, be sure to check out the DriverPacks tutorial!     • Here's how to create your own DP!
  • Registered: 2006-05-29
  • Posts: 193

Re: [REQ] MS Virtual PC 2007 Driver Pack

That's exactly what I do with VMware drivers : the vbscript detects bios, then you can install any software which has silent install.
I presume the same thing can be done with VPC.